Free Short Film Screening Presented by Chatsby Films World Premiere of "Sex and Camping"

(Peekskill, NY) Chatsby Films, the multi-award winning Production Company founded by Managing Partners Adam Matalon and Kevin Burke, is pleased to present a FREE screening of Sex and Camping at the historic Paramount Center for the Arts in Peekskill, NY on Wednesday, May 10th at 8pm. Sex and Camping is an official selection for the Short Film Corner at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Produced this past summer, Sex & Camping, a romantic comedy, was a successful collaboration between Burke and Matalon, who co-wrote and produced the film together. Matalon took the helm as director, with Burke serving as director of photography—familiar roles for the partners on past Chatsby projects.

"We went into last summer feeling it was time to do something for ourselves," said Matalon. The company had just completed post-production on All Star Alphabet, a home video being distributed by Sesame Workshop and Sony Wonder, starring Stephen Colbert (The Daily Show), and Nicole Sullivan (Mad TV, Hot Properties), a large project which took several months to develop and produce.

"We had everything we needed to make a good film at our fingertips—our own equipment, the loyal crew, the facilities…so everything came together—and quickly," added Burke. In just six weeks, Matalon and Burke wrote the script, lined up the crew, found their cast, and had the 38-minute short in the can.

Production value was key to the success of the film. The filmmakers kept themselves on a tight leash budget-wise, and if they didn't own their own gear they likely would not have been able to keep the film's finances under control. Essential to the look of the project was Chatsby's matching pair of Panasonic AJ-SDX900 DVCPRO Cinema® cameras, which have served them well since 2004.

"We took a chance on DVCPRO50 and the SDX900 when everyone was still speaking Digibeta," says Matalon.

"It makes very sexy pictures, and it gives me complete control over the look I'm trying to create," added Burke.

Chatsby used Canon's digital line of prime lenses on the cameras, and the only filter used during shooting was a polarizer. The two used both cameras simultaneously during each set up to speed scene coverage. Post was accomplished using Final Cut Pro HD on a G5 for editing and color correction. The film's titles were created in After Effects.

Chatsby Films is a multi award-winning, full-service, independent production company, formed by DGA Director Adam Matalon and twice Emmy-nominated cinematographer Kevin Burke. The company specializes in creative development, production, and multi-format delivery of corporate and industrial media, including commercials and infomercials, training, marketing and fundraising videos, streaming media, and all facets of post-production.

To date the company has garnered over 20 awards in just over two years for its broadcast and industrial work, including TELLY, AURORA, OMNI, and COMMUNICATOR awards, and in 2005 won 4 awards from the Advertising Club of Westchester, including The Norman Liss Best of Public Service Award, for PSAs currently airing on PBS and Sesame Street. Both Kevin and Adam have been a part of numerous Emmy winning and nominated teams and are running out of room to hang the certificates.

The Chatsby Films teams are drawn from the mainstream world of broadcast television and film production. They have done work on many well known programs and television projects for Sesame Street, CNN, HBO, Fox News, Comedy Central, Disney, Noggin, Oxygen Network, ABC, NBC, Hallmark Channel, Animal Planet, WGBH and PBS, to name a few. The company's broadcast work is presently airing on Noggin, Disney Channel and Sesame Street.

About the Panasonic SDX900

Panasonic's AJ-SDX900 offers filmmakers the ultimate in acquisition flexibility, expressed in the operator-controllable selection of EFP-quality 4:2:2 sampled DVCPRO50 or classic 4:1:1 sampled DVCPRO recording, with support for native 16:9 wide-screen. The AJ-SDX900 combines in one camera the "look" and "feel" of electronic film, high-performance 525-line field production, and low-cost NTSC compatible news. It is also the first 50Mbps 4:2:2 sampled standard definition camcorder to offer 24 frames-per-second progressive scan (480/24p) acquisition, in addition to 30 frames-per-second progressive (480/30p) and 60-fields-per-second interlace scan (480/60i) capture.